Getting Your Son to Love Reading

Best-selling author James Patterson recently penned an article “How to Get Your Kid to Be a Fanatic Reader” on CNN.com calling for parents “to start a much-needed intervention.” In that article, Patterson made several provocative statements:

It is not the schools’ job to get children to read, but it’s the parents’ job to do that.

Parents should remember that the more children read, the better readers they become.

Provide children with books that they enjoy so much that they ask to read another one.

Rereading a book is fine.

Don’t tell children that a book is too hard or too easy.

See if your child’s school is successful in getting their students to read.

Drop Everything and Read programs – schools set aside one period a day in which everyone stops whatever he or she is doing to read whatever they want to read

Knowledge Is Power Program – a multifaceted program that is designed to prepare students from underserved communities to attend college

Getting boys to read may require special actions:

Boys need to read things that make them “feel all squishy inside” about reading graphic novels, comics, pop-ups, joke books, and general-information tomes—especially the last.” Patterson suggests GuysRead.com for ideas of books preferred by boys in various categories.

Schools should reward boys for reading books like Guinness Book of World Records, Sports Illustrated Almanac, or The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll.

They may grumble they my sigh, but don’t give up because they cheer up and smile, my boys are age 5 and the other will be 7 tomorrow. We have books in the home and sometimes it’s a struggle, but i try my best to read at night and get them to act out a story. It is so important to keep going because what you do today will help them in school tomorrow, and make their confidence grow. Glad i found your blog, my new tip is to let them read a story to me in bed, so they can wake me up early and sit on the bed if we all read a story. Or before they go bed, as all children love to sit in mummy and daddy’s be